Janet Davis has discovered new importance in the annual Remembrance Day, in personal wartime correspondence she inherited.
“I found all the letters that my father and brother wrote to my mother during the war,” Davis said. “They talked about not being sure what was going to happen next.”
Remembrance Day is not until Friday, but the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 11, held a Sunday ceremony to remember Canada’s servicemen and women. On Nov. 6, veterans and civilians assembled for the annual Remembrance Day Worship ceremony.
Janet Davis, councillor for Ward 31, stood on the stage not as a politician, but to offer her family’s personal wartime story, as seen in the discovered correspondence.
“The letters helped me better understand what personal sacrifices they made,” she said.
Kathy Cole, a secretary and membership chair of the branch, talked about her veteran father.
“My father was a naval veteran,” Cole said. “He fought during World War II, so I do this in his memory and I joined the legion while he was still alive because he wanted me to join for him.”
At the end of the ceremony, John Dufort, president of Branch 11, said he believed that the sharing of stories and experiences was the key to help people remember the soldiers who fought courageously.
“The importance of passing on those stories and experiences … makes us remember,” Dufort said.
Coun. Davis believed that it is the Royal Canadian Legion’s responsibility to tell the stories of soldiers to the public.
“You (the Royal Canadian Legion) do a magnificent job to help continue, to help us all,” Davis said. “Thank you so much.”